Hot Water

[1977dodge]

I am currently looking for a way of providing hot water to my campervan has anyone done such an addition I see plenty of temp shower units that run off propane tanks but not something that i can install into my van like maybe a tankless heater I mostly want to do this so that i can make use of an empty cupboard space at rear of van where the porta potty currently resides but that will be moved outside and replaced with a natures head unit or similar
Thanks
Roy

 

[RVTravel]

People have definitely used tankless water heaters in a van.

 

[kyonu]

If you're plugged into shore, tankless heat is the best. If you're not plugged into shore, getting a small propane water heater is probably best.

Or you can put a winding black PVC tube on your roof to gather heat from the sun. This works less well in the cold though.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Alternatively, I'd just boil 2 litres of water on the campstove and put it into a couple of large thermos bottles. These newer ones will keep the water quite hot for 24 hours. Works for me!

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I guess I'd start by asking you some questions:

What, exactly, do you hope to accomplish?

How many gallons a day do you need? How many times a day will you need hot water? What were you planning to use it for?

Regards
John

 

[1977dodge]

I guess I'd start by asking you some questions:

What, exactly, do you hope to accomplish?

How many gallons a day do you need? How many times a day will you need hot water? What were you planning to use it for?

Regards
John

Basically i just want to be able run a shower

 

[headinthetrees]

I'll be doing my conversion in a diesel powered bus, so I will most likely install a marine style diesel hot water heater. If I do hydronic floor heating as planned, I can also use the hot water made from this to heat the inside, barefoot friendly even. In addition I may use a rocket stove to heat water as well, so I can run the hot water through the same hydronic system when I don't want to waste diesel. When wood was available I'd use it, otherwise I'd always have diesel to fall back on. And by adding a second diesel tank, I could survive for quite a long time without having to refill.

 

[RogueRV2]

I would simply boil up one to two gallons on a propane stove and pour it into a 'solar shower' that has 2 to 3 gallons of water in it. Add hot water until the temperature is about right for you. I did this routine while living on an old farm in Europe, but I used a home made alcohol stove to heat all of my water. This included hot water for clothes washing and everything else. It was a cheap vacation in Europe. There is also a battery operated shower that one can use a bucket or some other large container as a reservoir. This will give you good pressure, but it will tend to consume more water if you are not very careful. I've found it takes me about 4 gallons for an adequate shower using these methods.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Will you be parked for long periods of time, or will you be driving frequently?

In the boating world, there are water heaters that get their heat from the engine's cooling system. The water tank has a built in heat exchanger. I believe the smallest ones hold 5 or 6 gallons of water, which should be enough for a shower.

Regards
John

 

[karl]

If you drive frequently- I have a ten gallon tank with a coil of copper tapped into my heater lines installed under it. It heats while I drive. It has the added bonus of radiating heat to warm the cabin for hours after stopping if I choose.

 

[jimindenver]

Not that my solutions would be any good here but reading the thread reminded me of how much fun we had camping out of our E 100 in the beginning. The shower was the back doors open with a tarp and one of us holding a watering can with a sprinkle head. Pretty simple but any thing was better than a sponge bath. Later i stuck a stick thru the handle and tied a string to the spout so it was a one person process. A few years later I shortened the wand on a 2 gal garden sprayer and we used that set up until we got the trailer 4 years ago.

We heated the water at first on the fire, then we got a stove. we tried a solar bag and a make shift solar cooker, both worked fine if you wanted a shower later in the day. The same is true now if I got a $58 12v water heater element to run off of the solar panels. More than enough power to run the diversified load but it will be the afternoon before we take showers.

 

[Ken in Anaheim]

I've heard excellent reports on this : http://www.duckworksbbs.com/gear/shower/

KinA

 

[highdesertranger]

I have one of these, http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Portable-Water-Heater/dp/B00EHKPJMI . works great, there is a shower head available for it. when I build my trailer I will install a rv type tankless and sell the coleman. highdesertranger

 

[Canine]

I've heard excellent reports on this : http://www.duckworksbbs.com/gear/shower/

KinA

I have one of those. Love it! Very nice design in that it has an excellent amount of water pressure while keeping a low flow. The wand is a bit long for my taste, though. I can take a complete shower that includes shampooing my hair (short hair) with less than 40 ounces of water. About one quart of water. I've been doing this for the better part of a year and it works great. This isn't a long, hot shower of course, but I don't have to rush and try to scrimp on soap or water in hopes of having a proper shower; 40 ounces is plenty for all showers except for the grungy ones.

I can wash and rinse my 40 pound Border Collie mix (medium hair) with 1 1/2 gallons, but that is pushing it.

I have a friend that I asked to try it to see what she thought. She needed 1 1/2 gallons just to rinse off; that didn't include her hair. Everyone's needs are different. (I suspect she likes to use a lot of soap.)

I noticed that I had been using more soap than necessary. Now I've cut down on soap usage. More soap takes much more water to rinse off.

I heat up my water using a 1000 watt hot pot. It takes no more than 40 watts and two minutes to heat up 40 ounces of water to a make a nice, warm shower.

If the pump fails or you otherwise want a different weed sprayer, you would have zero problems hooking up the wand to another sprayer. The wand's nozzle at the end is the best part. Excellent design.

I have since built a shower from a weed sprayer with an RV hand shower attachment. I like this better as the sprayer pump is a better quality and the shower handle length is easier to manipulate. It is two gallons, so it now has enough water to bathe my dog. The Duckworks is my backup.

The turn on switch on the RV shower handle is not spring loaded, so I can turn it on a little and it will stay there, where on the Duckworks, it will turn on a little, but you need one hand to hold it because it is spring-loaded. It will only stay on when it clicks on at full spray. I don't like that because that greatly increases water usage and the spray is a bit harsh on the face. I don't like high pressure water needling me in the face because I'm a bit of a princess. Lol. When I'm showering, sometimes I like to have both hands free to rinse. I like the full power to rinse my hair out; you need pressure to rinse hair out efficiently to use less water.

I've also used a JetBoil to heat water. Very fast and extremely cheap to heat water. Highly recommended. And since it heats 40 ounces of water for a shower in less than two minutes, the concern for usage indoors is decreased.

 

[RogueRV2]

I wish I had one of those Coleman instant hot water things. But I have one of these that can be purchased at Bob's store. It works really good. The shower head has a button that quickly and easily shuts off the sprayer to conserve water. It came with a 12vdc to 6vdc transformer, and eliminated the need for batteries. It is hardwired to the solar system and lives in the shower. The 4 gallon tank it draws from is tall and narrow so the whole thing fits in the shower. This allows me to take hot water from the wood stove or propane stove, and dump it into the bucket. Because I'm not taking hot water from the hot water tank, and I have temporarily disconnected the plumbing, therefore one does not have to worry about it freezing up. In warm weather I can reconnect the plumbing, or use the 20 gallon hot water tank that will be on the roof absorbing the sun's warmth.

 

[RogueRV2]

Unfortunately it looks like the one in Bob's store does not come with a 12vdc plug so it must use D size batteries. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=B000XA9SBO&linkCode=as2&tag=cheaprvliving-20

This one is similar and may use less water, but again it does not a 12vdc plug. I must have gotten lucky with mine. And it only cost $2 bucks brand new in the box at a yard sale!

http://bestcampingshowers.com/battery-operated-camping-showers/zodi-battery-operated-camping-shower